Northwest Regionals Predictions

Men's Boats

Men’s 1x- Max Heid (Seattle Scullers) This race will probably be tighter than any singles field at Northwests in recent memory. Based on the results from two weeks ago, Heid should be ~5 seconds ahead of Petram who should be even with Franklin. That being said, I could see some upsets coming. Watch out for Isaiah Harrison, the holder of the 14 year old 2k world record. It remains to see if he has the on water cred to match, but he’ll probably be in contention.

Men’s 2- – SRC Not much to say about this race, especially since pairs aren’t really raced at a lot of events before Regionals, so there’s little to go off of. Some guys on Reddit seem pretty sure SRC’s going to win, so I’m deferring to their opinion. Based on Brentwood, ORU and Lakeside will probably be mixing it up for the medals and the bid.

Men’s Lightweight 2x - SRC Threetime national champion Reece Schulz might be gone, but you still have to watch out for SRC. Notably, his pair partner Ruben Luthra will be back again this year, and I’ve heard he’s faster than Reece was. ORU has been putting up some fast times in practice, but I’m giving it to SRC.

Men’s 2x – ORU This one could be interesting, especially if Scullers is putting out their top double (which seems unlikely given Max Heid is rowing the 4x and 1x). But purely based of Elk Lake and Brentwood results, ORU should have the win. Watch out for SRC and Vashon however.

Men’s Lightweight 4+ – Baker This really depends on what Baker is doing. Their top lights are supposedly racing L4 and 8+, so I’m giving it to them. I’d watch out for Pocock, Seattle, and possibly Bainbridge. Shame Lakeside scratched their L4 – would have made for a good race.

Men’s 4+ – Rose City This might be my most uncertain prediction, as it really depends who’s got good lightweights in their V8 and so won’t be doubling them into the V4. Baker and Rose City are looking quick, and Baker beat them at Brentwood, but I’m assuming some of Baker’s guys will be doubling L4 and 8+.

Men’s 4x – SRC This race is gonna be close, even though traditionally it hasn’t been. A lot has been made about the fact that SRC isn’t rowing their full A quad, but they have enough depth I think they can still pull out the W. Green Lake, Scullers, and Pocock will be putting up some tough competition though.

Men’s Lightweight 8+ – Baker Hilariously the L8 only has 4 entries this year. I’m calling a pretty easy win for Baker, given they had 17 seconds on their nearest competition at Brentwood.

Men’s 8+ – Sammamish Baker put up 7 seconds on Pocock at Brentwood, who beat Green Lake and barely beat Everett at Husky Open, but Sammamish hasn’t been outside of the medals for almost a half decade and they were on the come up last year.

Women's Boats

Women’s 1x – Kate Edwards, (SRC) I think this one will be a pretty clear win for Kate, who put up an A final level time at Shamrock. Watch out for Seattle Prep though, who took 5th place at Nationals last year. It’ll presumably be tight. Thanks /u/GuskaBig96 for catching that.

Women’s 2- – Burton Beach Burton Beach’s lineup fast enough I think they have it in the bag. I don’t expect a CBC level situation (especially in that case both rowers were international calibre racers and seniors), but I do think it’ll be tough to take down Graves and Kelly. HNA might have a shot though, since they’ve entered their top two rowers.

Women’s L2x - SRC This is probably one of the easiest calls, as the same double from last year is returning and they’ve beat Redwood by 8 seconds and put up a 7:37 at Shamrock.

Women’s 2x – SRC Burton Beach is the only American crew to put up a fast time at Brentwood, so I’m gonna call it for SRC. I’d also say Seattle Prep could be quick, assuming they double 1x into 2x.

Women’s L4 - Green Lake I really don’t have a clue about this one. I’m assuming HNA is prioritizing the 8+, and even though they had a 3rd place boat at Nationals that only graduated one rower, I’m not sure if they’re entering their top boat. If they are, I’d say they should win.

Women’s 4+ - Green Lake Pocock beat up on Everett at Husky Open, and given Green Lake beat them by a reasonably commanding lead at Brentwood, I’m gonna give it to Green Lake here. Of course, HNA won Opening Day, but their closest competition was CBRC and they won’t be rowing that lineup at Regionals.

Womens 4x - SRC SRC beat Brentwood winner Delta Deas by a pretty commanding lead, so I’m giving it to them. Not sure who would challenge.

Women’s Lightweight 8 - Baker Bainbridge won Brentwood by 11 seconds, but they only raced Canadian teams. What I’m not sure about is Green Lake entering two 8s since it indicates the coach is probably pretty confident about the B boat’s depth.

Women’s 8 - Holy Names I’m gonna call this one for Holy Names, based not only on their win at Husky Open but also the fact they won Shamrock, which meant beating a lot of very good Southwest teams.

Apparently Max Heid hadn't rowed in several weeks leading up to that regatta. Heid beat Cayden Franklin (the SRC single) at a smaller regatta with some of the top northwest singles a couple weeks ago. Not saying Heid has it in the bag by any means, but it is definitely his race to lose as it stands. Should be a fun race to watch.

Emma Conaty who took 5th in the women’s single last year has graduated... Kate Edwards finna work the field though, she’s speedy... Heard that the top varsity men have a hard time keeping up with her single steady state

Someone told me the ORU pair is having a lineup change in the 2- which should be interesting if true. On that same note there may be some interesting things happening with the SRC men's 2- since Franklin has 28 minutes between 1x final and 2- final on Saturday which would be quite a power move to say that least. Additionally the Burton beach women's quad if prioritized could pose a potential shot at SRC due to how well that squad has been performing. It's always hard to make these predictions based of the Brentwood regatta because it has lost almost all credibility in terms of hosting EVERY top northwest crew and providing consistent data on them. Final thing to note is that the pair predictions based of Brentwood is going to be interesting since many crews, including the winner ORU, reported crazy gusts and buoy clashes. This, coupled with no side by side racing for that boat class due to wind makes predictions that much more complicated for the men's pair.

That would be quite a show of force for SRC if they can field those 2 boats and medal in both, that being said I would also like to add the PRC double to the mix for the men's 2x as they beat the vashon double at Brentwood and were very close to the SRC double at the Seattle scullers scrimmage.